The men trembled, torn between fear of the demon and fear of their own leader.
"Those from Above would be your friends," Barry argued. "They are not demons, but men very like yourselves."
"Liar!" Komso bellowed. "The people of Tana are the only true men!"
The warriors nodded, accepting the oft-repeated dogma as indisputable truth. Barry realized it was useless to argue. He waited, hoping something would swing the balance. Meanwhile Komso deployed his forces in a crescent across the mouth of the slough. To Barry it looked like preparation for a rush that would overwhelm him.
Each warrior, he saw, carried a large sealed wooden cylinder. They handled them gingerly. Barry guessed their purpose. They contained the hypervirulent bacterial cultures with which the colony was to be exterminated. But of course, to the Venusians themselves, they were magic.
Just when it seemed Komso's men were rallying from their fright, Barry sighted a speck of brightness far out to sea. One of the men saw it too and called the priest's attention to it. Komso's stare of puzzlement changed to fury as he made out the forms of thirty women.
Xintel darted ahead of the group, past Komso's men, and before the priest could give an order, she had reached Barry's side.
"I had to use all the fire," she said in a low voice. "There were torvaks, and it killed them."
Barry squeezed her hand, although he wished she had saved one charge with which to impress the war party.
Komso's forces were disorganized. Several of the men had left ranks to join their frightened, panting mates and a series of shrill family quarrels were in progress despite all the priest's efforts. Men cursed their wives for leaving Tana and were in turn cursed for everything the near-hysterical females could lay tongue to.